


Everything Changes

by Skylar0Grace



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-07-25
Updated: 2009-07-25
Packaged: 2017-11-29 17:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/689397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skylar0Grace/pseuds/Skylar0Grace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>“But everything changes. If I could turn back the years, if you could learn to forgive me then I could learn to feel.”</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everything Changes

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously I was heavily inspired by ‘Everything Changes’ by Staind.

* * *

Tristan saw her from across the room. She hadn’t noticed him there and he wasn’t sure that even if she saw him, she’d recognise him. It had been ten years and he’d been just a stupid boy the last time he’d seen her. But seeing her now, the short blue dress hugging her curves as she smiled, her fringe falling over her eyes and making her more alluring, his breath was stolen. It was like a punch to the gut and he wasn’t expecting it. He’d heard she’d begun travelling with work, so why was she even here?

Tristan couldn’t tear his eyes away from her, not even to look at the red-head he was supposed to be escorting tonight. He didn’t even know the red-head’s name but his parents refused to let him attend on his own. Taking that as a blessing, he’d tried to get out of going to yet another boring party but his mother had already phoned a friend and secured him a date.

Tristan watched as the woman who captivated his attention drew the attention of just about every other male in the room and he had to fight the urge to start throwing punches. She wasn’t his and she never had been. In fact, she’d been about as far away from his as you could get but the decade or so of distance didn’t seem to have had any effect on the way his body and soul ached to be near her. The only difference was that now he was older and wiser – he now knew he’d never have her.

From across the room, her sparkling blue eyes turned in his direction. He could have sworn that his heart had stopped as she frowned slightly, trying to place an old memory before recognition crossed her face. Her head tilted slightly to the side and she politely excused herself from the older woman talking to her. She walked assuredly toward him and he felt his chest constrict. It shouldn’t be possible for her to still have such control over him and yet, she did.

“Tristan?”

He sucked in a deep breath at the sound of her familiar voice, the voice that whispered in his mind and forced him to want for a better life. Her questioning eyes watched his and his mouth opened of its own accord.

“Mary.”

He knew it had been the wrong thing to say even before her eyes hardened and her beautiful lips thinned in annoyance. He just couldn’t believe she was standing before him and it had been so easy to fall back into their old banter. She would never know that the name he had given her originally as a stake of claim had somehow become a term of endearment, a way to think about her without acknowledging that that was what he was doing.

He could feel her drawing away from him even before she physically did and he felt a part of himself leaving with her again. In the years without her, nobody had come close to replacing her and he wondered, if he could somehow start over, if they could have changed the way everything had played out. He would no longer do the things he did, play the games he played – he would no longer put her in a position where she’d publicly declared her hatred for him.

No matter how much he tried to twist their history making her the villain in the piece and easing his broken heart, he couldn’t make those wounds sting any less and he knew that it had been his fault. His own stupid, foolish, childish fault and looking at her now, watching her body turn away from his as if in slow motion, he knew he had to do something.

A part of him, the more rational part, begged him to stop. There was nothing he could possibly say to stop her walking away from him and even if he could get her to stop, she’d never forgive him; never give back the heart she unknowingly held. But that part of him was silenced by the more desperate part – the part that had been frozen by her beauty, had been captivated by everything about her and wanted her to know it.

His hand flew out and grasped her wrist. She turned back in shock and saw, with surprise, a pleading in his eyes. Her eyes darted back and forth across his face and he hoped that the changes he had made, the difference she had had on his life was evident. She looked unsure as she glanced up at him and he took a step toward her, his body just centimetres from hers. He expected a reaction from her, a slap or a step back, but she didn’t move and her face now held no expression. He leaned down toward her.

“Rory.”

She smiled and he needed no further invitation. His lips met hers and her hands fisted the lapels of his jacket as he pulled her closer, revelling in the warmth he had only dreamt about before. They became oblivious to the stares and whispers from the people around them. Society would have to wait because, for now, they had some catching up to do.

  
_When it’s just me and you, who knows what we could do?_   
_If we can just make it through the toughest part of the day._   


  
_Then we could stay here together and we could conquer the world_   
_If we could say that forever is more than just a word._   



End file.
